E30 M3 V10

[KW355]

I was going to try this one as it has a proper 2 pin connector and is 0-170 which is what the gauge shows http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180847879900? ... EBIDX%3AIT

Dan,

As it is two pin it probably is insulated earth, i.e. one pin connected to earth and the other one to the gauge, not a problem but it means an extra earth wire must be provided.
The one I ordered is single pin and earths through the sender body to the car's oil filter housing.

[Cypriotgeeza]

looks like it was supposed to be there all along!

[DanThe]

I was going to try this one as it has a proper 2 pin connector and is 0-170 which is what the gauge shows http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180847879900? ... EBIDX%3AIT

Dan,

As it is two pin it probably is insulated earth, i.e. one pin connected to earth and the other one to the gauge, not a problem but it means an extra earth wire must be provided.
The one I ordered is single pin and earths through the sender body to the car's oil filter housing.

Yes I realise that, I just prefer the 2 pin 'click' connector as used on E30's from factory due to OCD reasons

[KW355]

I have just finished a rear suspension refurb on the M3.
I wanted to strip it down to check for wear and tear from age and V10 abuse and replace / strengthen as necessary, I was pleasantly surprised, the rubber bushes were a bit aged, the wheel bearings were slightly noisy but the driveshafts seemed o.k. so I decided to just refurbish.
It took a day to strip it all out, I think I got off lightly with seized bolts etc as most of it had been taken apart by Glenn during the initial rebuild.
I opted to take discs, calipers and the diff off in situ, the diff is very heavy (35kg ?) this left the beam and trailing arms which are relatively manageable



I removed the trailing arm bushes with a version of the wiki diy removal tool, I used a 30mm deep reach socket instead of the pipe as I had one to hand. they came out easily after a warm with the hot air gun.
If you are doing your beam bushes it is so much easier with one of these;



The beam bushes also came out easier with a heating, I believe this tool can remove and install bushes in situ.

some of the bits for the refurb;



I opted to go for satin black powder coating, I think it came out really well;



I left some old bolts in to protect the threads and cut some 10mm plywood discs to protect the bearing housings.

The diff had a slight oil leak, I believe it was from the drain plug, I took the cover off, cleaned the diff out, changed the gasket, speedo sensor retaining plate and the plug crush washers. It was then painted.





Before reassembly I changed all the hard rear brake lines, flexible Black diamond brake hoses and the main fuel line including mounting clips. The fuel / brake line clips were mostly seized, I had to drill and tap the old screws out, not a nice job !

I started reassembly by fitting the beam complete with Powerflex bushes, I then fitted the trailing arms, diff and brakes (which have been refurbished previously )







The wheel bearings were changed ( SKF ) and the driveshaft c.v's were cleaned out, checked, regreased and fitted with new GKN Lobro c.v joint boots from ecp;

http://beta.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/BMW_ ... 81e&000445

Most boots are too big for the wheel side, they rub on the shock absorber. The diff side kit fit fine apart from the bolts which had no tensile markings on them, I brought some proper ones, the people who did my propshaft recommended 10.9 tensile strength for drivetrain bolts.
For the wheel side I removed the rubber boot from the kit, it has the correct circular seal to fit on the existing c.v metal cover. Basically I paid £19.80 for the kit and only used the rubber boot for the wheel side, still cheaper than the £60 BMW wanted per boot kit.






The diff was filled with 1.7 litres ofCastrol Syntrax 75w 140 lsd oil.
I also fitted a temperature sensor to the diff as my vdo oil temp gauge was not being used because the Awron dash vent gauge provides this info.
I used an e30 engine coolant temp sender as this over reads by about 50% on the vdo gauge, it also allows the fitment of the correct 'click' type oem plug which should satisfy Danthe's oem plug fetish !



The over read is required because the vdo gauge does not start reading until 60 degrees c. After a 30 mile test drive the diff temp was showing 65 to 70 degrees c so about 40 degrees actual which is in line with the gearbox which runs at about 50 degrees c

I reckon the cost for parts is about £500 which includes the powerflex, powdercoat, boots, brakeparts etc and all new clips, bolts and fittings.

A few shots of the car as it stands;

[Mr-Lachs]

Just looked stunning up in the dictionary and there was a photo if your car!!

[Cypriotgeeza]

Top work!

Love this car

[glenn]

brilliant work keith.
its definitely in good hands

[MPOWERCRAZY]

beautiful car mate

[bss325i]

Some good work going into this.

Good to see the continual development of an awesome machine!

[glenn]

Some good work going into this.

Good to see the continual development of an awesome machine!

your right barry,
I couldn't be happier, that keith bought it. he's doing it proud.

a car with a major engine conversion like this, couldn't of been sold to someone who didn't know one end of a spanner from the other.

when I sell the e46, I hope it goes to someone similar.

[bss325i]

I would love the E46!

Contact me when you're ready Glenn!

[tomson]

I remember this car when Paul owned it, 'twas a right old sorry state back then. Glad to see the change!!

[ImysE30]

Stunning

[KW355]

Thanks for the comments

[KW355]

My vid seems to have disappeared, here it is again.

http://vid292.photobucket.com/albums/mm ... 49jzac.mp4

[glenn]

My vid seems to have disappeared, here it is again.

http://vid292.photobucket.com/albums/mm ... 49jzac.mp4

I still enjoy watching this vid, keith

makes me chuckle, brings back good memories

[jimbom30cab]

Flippin awesome !!!

[jkm3]

Bloody hell, that's quick, proper quick!

[fixedwheelnut]

Love the number plate, The number of the Beast

[P_VIDDY]

proper job on the rear axle. Nice work

[KW355]

I have not done an update for a while, mostly because I have not done anything to the car apart from polish and drive it
The car continues to surprise fellow road users and myself sometimes, I booted it the other night after not driving it for a bit and my first thought was that the front wheels were coming off the ground
Most of the time I drive it in 400 bhp mode but sometimes you just have to press the 'power' button to get the full 500 bhp !




I have been looking in to the front suspension, it is very hard, I sent the springs off to Gaz to test them and they were 650lb.
After a discussion with Gaz they suggested 400lb for a standard road car and 450lb for my car to compensate for the V10.











The ride is still hard but a bit more compliant, I will try changing the adjustable damper settings.

I got a bit bored over the bank holiday and decided to refurb the headlight brackets, they were a bit tatty and all the adjusters were seized. fortunately they came apart without breaking.





I am looking forward to the show season and plan to attend as many as possible.

[MPOWERCRAZY]

always love the updates on this thread, they get better each time looking good mate!

[KW355]

The car started running a bit strange recently, I looked on the Awron vent gauge and noticed that the fuel pressure was wrong and the air fuel ratios were out on both banks.
I decided to change the in tank fuel filter / 6 bar pressure regulator first which I had grafted in to the e30 tank ,



A bargain at £172 from BMW, unfortunately it didn't solve the problem but it did retain the fuel pressure better when the engine was switched off. I then swapped the power to the in tank pumps over ( one pump runs at variable speed @ 3 bar and the second comes in at cold start and high rpm ) this made no difference as well.
Next was a phone call to Glenn's one stop V10 shop for one of these;



This is the fuel pump module which is controlled by the engines d.m.e. fortunately it solved the problem.

I have had the car on the ramp recently and done quite a few jobs, polybushed the front end, wrapped the exhaust with heat bandage, changed the clutch pipes, cleaned the injectors and reset the wheel geometry amongst other things.












I decided to treat myself to some recaro sportster cs seats, they are out of a corsa vxr and are black nappa leather. not exactly period correct but easily removable.





At first it looked like an easy job as the seat rail centre line was only 5mm different to the e30 floor bolts, unfortunately the seat rails are offset 30mm from centre so I had to fabricate some brackets and remove this bracket;



I also removed the 10mm spacers from the bottom of the seat rails to get the seat as low as possible.







I took the car to the Santa Pod show last weekend, it was on the e30 zone stand and it generated the usual interest.

[Fal_325i]

Wow, the seats actually work, even though they are from a Corsa

[ah]

Love the plate,and I bet it will be!

[Rav335uk]

Nice Keith.
Seats actually looked right at home.

[glenn]

I miss this car so much....

once the E46 sells, i'm building another E30 M3 V10

[MrGCC]

Good lord this car is amazing! Just a beautiful build with so much detail.

[KW355]

Good lord this car is amazing! Just a beautiful build with so much detail.

Thanks and welcome to the zone, I see you are from God's country a˜€

[SasG]

these seats....... amazing... you've really made me consider something similar... great job

[KW355]

these seats....... amazing... you've really made me consider something similar... great job

I highly recommend these seats, they are really comfortable.

[SasG]

these seats....... amazing... you've really made me consider something similar... great job

I highly recommend these seats, they are really comfortable.

Im already searching lol

[s62]

Keith - the Mishimoto radiator, is it the X-line or the normal E36 M3 rad? I guess from the pics it´s the normal one.

Have you driven the car hard for sustained periods on a track? If so, water temps ok?

[KW355]

Keith - the Mishimoto radiator, is it the X-line or the normal E36 M3 rad? I guess from the pics it´s the normal one.

Have you driven the car hard for sustained periods on a track? If so, water temps ok?

I have not done a full track day in it, just a few laps but it did not overheat, it will sit all day in traffic in the middle of summer and has never overheated even when driven hard.
It is the 'standard' Mishimoto e36 M3 rad, the thicker one would not fit

[s62]

I have not done a full track day in it, just a few laps but it did not overheat, it will sit all day in traffic in the middle of summer and has never overheated even when driven hard.
It is the 'standard' Mishimoto e36 M3 rad, the thicker one would not fit

Ok, then I´ll use the standard one also.

The gas pedal - is it one from the E46?